"You should kill yourself."

In a shadowy alley littered with jagged metal scraps and rusted alloys from dismembered APCs and abandoned.

MWP combat robots—relics from the battles against Nexis creatures not too long ago—a frail boy knelt on the ground. His expression was hollow, his gaze a void fixed upon the darkness stretching endlessly before him.

His silver-white hair, now matted and stained a filthy brown from dirt and grime, clung limply to his head.

His emaciated frame was wrapped in tattered rags, riddled with gaping holes that allowed the biting cold to seep in.

He shivered uncontrollably, his only solace the thin layers of snow accumulating on the icy debris surrounding him, his mental state was not too stable.

Any trigger would result in complete madness, or the complete breakdown of his mental state.

Before him stood a boy clad in opulent winter garments, sheltered under a black umbrella. Marion's eyes bore into him with venomous disdain, his lips curled into a sneer.

"Why—why are you doing this?" Riley rasped, his voice tinged with exhaustion.

"I've been banished from the clan, left to rot in this wasteland, and still, you searched for me like a starving dog. What's the matter? Are you secretly infatuated with my handsome face?" He feigned contemplation before adding with mocking emphasis, "Sorry, Marion, but I'm not gay."

Marion's face twisted in disgust. "You repulsive wretch! As if I'd harbor any affection for filth like you," he spat. "This is about Sarah, you sick degenerate."

Riley tilted his head, feigning innocence. "Sarah? Oh, you mean your fiancée who couldn't resist sneaking into my bed? I simply tossed her out when she couldn't control herself." His smirk deepened. "Maybe she found my charm too irresistible."

"Don't lie!" Marion roared, veins bulging out of his head. "You tried to defile her!"

"Defile her?" Riley echoed with exaggerated disbelief. "Please, your dear fiancée probably wishes her betrothed had a fraction of my looks. If being handsome was a crime, you'd need diplomatic immunity by now."

Marion's face flushed a dangerous crimson, trembling with barely contained rage and embarrassment. Riley wondered if Marion was on the verge of exploding.

"In the name of the gods, I swear I'll kill you!" Marion hissed, every word dripping with killing intent.

"Calm down, Marion. You look like a ripe tomato—shame we don't have those in our world anymore." Riley's tone remained light, almost playful, but his eyes glittered with calculated defiance.

Despite the pitiful situation he found himself in—homeless, stripped of status, and despised—Riley retained his sharp tongue and a little dark humor. Life had been reduced to a game of survival, and sarcasm was his preferred weapon.

Riley once lived in the academy dormitory. However, he had been chased out—which was odd—since the academy never goes on holidays. He could guess it was the work of someone from the clan. They must have bribed the guards to throw him out.

Marion's lips curled into a bitter smile. "I'm honestly shocked you're still alive, crawling around in this gutter. I thought the rats would've eaten your corpse by now. I'm surprised you actually live here."

Riley shrugged. "Did you at least bring gifts? It's rude to visit without offerings."

"You—!" Marion's words faltered, frustration boiling over as he failed to find a retort sharp enough to match Riley's relentless jabs. His patience snapped. "Die!" he screamed, kicking Riley squarely in the chest.

The impact sent Riley sprawling backward, his vision swimming as he stared up at the swirling snowflakes falling from the night sky. Riley remained motionless, feeling the icy sting of snow settling on his skin, but his eyes flickered with life beneath his lashes.

Marion, seeing this, paled, then he smiled before laughing out loud.

"Ha-ha-ha, who would have thought this is how you would die?" Marion asked.

He walked closer to Riley's body, then stomped his foot on his chest repeatedly and viciously.

"Master Marion, we should leave. The patriarch will return soon," a stern voice advised from the shadows. Marion's butler, an elderly man with eyes as cold as the winter night, emerged from a dark corner.

"Tsk. I'm done with this trash!" Marion scoffed, glaring down at Riley's lifeless body one final time before turning away. "Let's go."

"Yes, Master," the butler replied, casting a fleeting, pitiful glance at Riley's unmoving form before following his master out of the alley.

They both headed out of the dark alley, leaving Riley alone.

Minutes passed in stillness. Then Riley's finger twitched, and he slowly blinked his eyes to get rid of the snow that had piled up on them. His eyelids had almost frozen. Slowly, with some effort, he got up from the ground, shaking his body, making clumps of snow fall off him.

"Stupid as always! Do humans die easily?" Riley mumbled before dragging his worn-out body out of the alley. He turned around a corner before entering another alley.

This narrow passage led to his makeshift shelter—a derelict cockpit from a defunct MWP robot, which he had repurposed into a rudimentary bedroom.

Riley sighed.

Nexus blessing first appeared in the world a few millennium ago. Back then, the planet was just starting to recover from a series of devastating natural disasters and subsequent resource wars.

At first, the emergence of a new disease that caused millions of people to complain about constant fatigue and sleepiness did not attract much attention. But when they started to fall into an unnatural slumber, with no sign of waking up even days later, governments finally panicked. Of course, by then it was already too late—not that an early response could have made any difference.

When the Blessed started dying in their sleep, their dead bodies turning into monsters, no one was ready. Nexus creatures quickly overwhelmed national militaries, plunging the world into complete chaos.

No one knew what the blessing was, what powers it possessed, or how to fight it.

In the end, it was the Awakened—those who survived the first trials of the blessing and came back alive—who put a stop to its rampage. Armed with miraculous abilities earned in their Nexus Realm, they restored peace and created a semblance of a new order.

For an average person, being chosen by the Nexus blessing was as much of a risk as an opportunity. Kids learned survival skills and fighting techniques in school, on the off chance of being infected. Well-to-do families hired private tutors to train their children in all sorts of martial arts.

To Riley it was more of a death sentence than a blessing; after all to an outskirt kid like him, he no longer had any protection. if by chance his soul was taken into the Nexus realm, his body would be left defenseless, and the rats and other hungry people in the alley might have eaten most of his flesh by the time he returned from the Nexus realm.

Only those from the Awakened clans even had access to powerful legacies, wielding inherited Nexus Items-weapons— and minions in their first visit to the Nexus Realm. The richer your family was, the better your chances of surviving and becoming Nexus Ascender was.

But for Riley, it was a death sentence as much as it was an opportunity for him to live a better life.

Still, Riley hadn't awakened at the age of fifteen. He had undergone rigorous training and teachings, but he was eventually banished from the clan—after all, he was just an adopted member.

The normal age of awakening was thirteen years; they'd thought he was a late awakener until a few months ago. The clan he was recruited into was one of the largest clans in the world: The Broken Sword.

Although they are known as Broken Sword, they are very good in swordsmanship.

He had been living in the dregs since birth. The dregs—a slaughterhouse located outside of what was once New York City—where the lower class lived, those who were unfortunate, whose lives had been deemed useless.

Riley showed exceptional talent in learning, and the clan had thought he'd have a good chance of awakening, so they had taken him in to be a warrior.

Each of the three clans scouts children from the dregs and recruits exceptional talents, buying them off from their parents at three silver coins; money enough to feed the family for three months.

His parents had sold him off for one silver coin; money not enough to sustain the family for a month.

He couldn't really blame them; surviving in the dregs is a herculean task and dangerous—really dangerous. But he had ended up finding out in a hard way.

To survive the dregs, its inhabitants had to eat rats, and sleep in metal houses welded together. The life expectancy in the dregs is lower, compared to that of the city. If a rift should open in the dregs, thousands—if not millions—of people would lose their lives before the government forces arrived.

One would think the metal house offered protection, but it didn't.

A Nexus creature—that of the dormant series—the lowest rank—would tear the metal house apart, killing whoever was seeking refuge in it.

In the dregs, humans could turn against each other at any given time. Everyone wanted to survive, and they would do anything to survive, even if it involved killing their children and eating their flesh.

However, children had become a source of money to people who lived in the dregs. They'd rape women every day—even during the daytime, kidnap children, and sell them off to the clans.

Riley was grateful he wasn't living in the dregs—at least for now.

Although the alley was not much better than the dregs, he didn't have to constantly be on alert. He was the only one in the alley, although there were several other people, but it was rare for them to come across one another.

The alley was big enough for everyone to wander around comfortably.

Jumping inside the MWP makeshift bedroom, he froze, he could sense it with his heightened senses...

Someone had been here.

Carefully and slowly, Riley navigated his makeshift bedroom, and there on the ground, he saw footprints made of dirt, heading to the other side of the room, although the room is not large, its spacious.

Turning around a corner, he saw the intruder.

A man dressed in black overall, his black trench coat sway lightly, he held a knife that glints in cold light, a chill ran down Riley's back.

The man had white hair and beards, the hat on his head covered the majority of his face, and Riley could not really recognize him, but if there's one thing he's sure about…

The man was here to kill him.

The killer Lunged forward, he's surprisingly fast for his size. Riley who had not expected this fell backwards, the knife narrowly missed his head.

However it sliced off a large portion of Riley's hair.

Cold sweats tickled down his skin, his heart beat accelerated, and Adrenaline rushed through him.

He scrambled away from the ground, looking left and right, he saw the killer crashing into the side of the MWP makeshift bedroom by his left, the killer looked stunned.

Maybe he hadn't expected him to dodge the attack or maybe he's just confused, Riley didn't know.

He saw his chance and bolted out of the MWP makeshift room.

He dashed through the dark alley as fast as his mundane leg could carry him, but how could he outrun a Nexus Ascender. 

The killer caught up with him in less than ten seconds, swinging his knife for his head.

Riley's hair stood on end. Sensing the danger, he ducked, and in the next moment, there was a spark beside him, and the scream of metal against reinforced concrete assaulted his ears. 

He had narrowly escaped being beheaded. 

However he didn't move far before tripping on a MWP robotic arm, which was protruding out of the ground, he could see it because of the little light in the alley.

Before he could react, he crashed against another abandoned MWP, which sent him flying in the direction of the killer.

The killer seeing this smiled coldly, he moved his hands. Several metal parts from the MWP moved hitting Riley in the air, and slamming him on the ground hard.

"Ferrokinesis" Riley realized the killer had the ability to control metals. His chance of fighting back is now down in the abyss, the alley was a metal junkyard— his enemy domain. 

His vision swam and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, breathing heavily, he moved his weak and battered body, struggling to get far away from the killer, but couldn't.

The assassin sauntered over, relishing the sight of his prey's helplessness. "You're resilient for an unawakened brat," he remarked, his voice tinged with dark amusement.

"Thanks," Riley wheezed, forcing out the words. "You flatter me."

The killer chuckled, the knife floated on top of is palm. Ignoring Riley's promis. In one swift motion, he sent the knife into Riley's heart.

"After observing you for a while. It was confirmed that you might and will be a very great threat to the clan in the future. You know too much. So we decided to silence you for good."

"May the gods guide you to the afterlife" The killer added. 

A cold numbness spread through Riley's body as the world faded to black. But just as everything went dark, a voice echoed in his mind.

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nexus blessing . Prepare for your First Trial…]